THE TORCH:†
DECEMBER 2004

THE BOTTOM LINE

†††† Hugh M. Spoljaric, President

††††††††††††† Kingston Teachersí
Federation

††††††††††††††††††††††††††
ďA Respectful Visití

†††† Last week, the two new NYSUT
Vice Presidents, Richard Iannuzzi and Maria Niera, came to Kingston for the ED 13 meeting. Union heads
from Wappingers to Sullivan West to Cairo-Durham, including KTF Vice Presidents
Lauri Naccarato and Kathy Werner, attended the meeting that followed my visit
with them.

†††† Among the items that we discussed was the
changing regulations of state ed. A new set of
specifications and formats for the grades 3-8 tests in ELA and Math were
developed. CTB McGraw-Hill worked with teachers in the development of the
tests.

†††† The state is creating a grade-by-grade K-12
ELA core curriculum. Appropriate performance indicators have been developed in
each of the four ELA standards in each grade level. Test samplers will be
available in January 2005.

†††† The Math standards are still in draft
form. NYSUT believes that any new math tests must be reviewed and revised
before a core curriculum is developed and any new math tests are administered
in grades 3-8.

†††† Both NYSUT VPís indicated that they are
advocating for the elimination of regional scoring of state exams. They favor
site based scoring within the school where the exams were administered.

†††† Additionally, they are extremely concerned
over the impact of AIS services. In many districts, courses have been
eliminated as the need for AIS grows.

†††† Lastly, they indicated that a merger of
the AFT and the NEA is on the horizon. Details have been worked out and an
announcement should be forthcoming by February.

†††† It was a special night, one of many that
they will attend throughout the state as they assume their new roles at NYSUT.
And, it was special of them to sit down and to talk with me. It tells me that
the KTF is well respected.

†††† And, thatís the Bottom Line.

†††††††††††††††††††
IMPASSE DECLARED!

†††† At the bargaining
session between the KingstonCitySchools
and the Kingston Teachersí Federation teachers unit held on Tuesday, November
30, 2004, your KTF Negotiating Team declared an impasse in the negotiations for
a new collective bargaining agreement. The team representing the Kingston
Schools Board of Education joined in the impasse.

†††† The parties will
seek agreement on the designation of a mediator. The first step of the impasse
procedure under the New York State Public Relations Board (PERB) is to provide
for the appointment of a mediator. The mediatorís role is to assist the parties
in reaching agreement on unresolved issues. The mediator has no power other
than his or her ability to assist the parties in reaching agreement on
outstanding issues.

†††† Your bargaining
team felt it necessary to declare impasse because of the Board of Educationís
insistence on the reduction of health insurance benefits coupled with
additional personal contributions from those covered by our health Trust.

†††† The district is
also seeking further changes in job responsibilities and duties without
offering fair increases in salaries.

†††† The bargaining
team appreciates the continued support given our team by the membership. Your
continued support is most important in achieving a fair settlement that meets
the needs of our members.

†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† EDITORIAL

†††† The sudden
announcement that the Federation had reached impasse with the district does not
come as a complete shock. After all, it took two years in 1993 and 18 months in
1997 to get a new contract. In 2000, a new deal was driven, not by a concern
for the units, but by the Boardís goal of having all units settled for the new
incoming Superintendent. Usually, districts are in no hurry to settle. Bank the
money and stretch out the time, for there is no penalty. The responsibility,
regardless of the administration, rests with the nine people who are the Board
of Education. Impasse begins when the path becomes
foggy or is blocked. Itís also possible that the fogginess has caused the
blockage.†††††††† ††††††

†††† There is a
history to the negotiations between the district and the KTF that cannot be
dismissed; not by any consultant, not by any advisor, not by any assistant. We
know the community. We are the community. We are Kingston teachers and secretaries and
assistants and monitors and substitutes and retirees. Over the many years, we
have a history of being dedicated, loyal, reasonable and responsible members of
the community, regardless of the make up of either the Board or the
administration.†

†† ††We encourage the Board to place some trust in
the people who are the KTF, and thatís almost all of us. We hope that the
impasse comes to pass, soon.

†††††††††††††††††††††††
KTF HONORED BY AFT

†††† AFT President
Ed McElroy has presented the KTF with their nationally recognized Partners
in Political Action award. The AFT recognized KTF efforts in raising
voluntary political funds through the VOTE/COPE program. KTF VP Lauri Naccarato
and former VP Vince Voerg chair the KTF program. McElroy stated that ďYour
leadership makes us stronger nationally, statewide, and locally. Your members
have made a powerful difference in the voice for labor families.Ē

††††

††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† HEALTH UPDATES

†††† As of January
1, 2005, members are reminded that the Trust health insurance plan will rebate,
after documentation of 12 months participation,† $100 per member and $150 per member
and spouse for a yearís membership in a health club or gym. Also, as of January
1, members who have prescriptions for maintenance drugs will need to use 93-day
mail order. Prescriptions for those drugs will be unavailable on a monthly
basis at a local pharmacy upon the fourth refill.

†††† With a declared
impasse in contract negotiations and, therefore, no immediate possibility of a
125 Plan, there will be no increase in co-pays.

†††† And, dependent
children who are non-students and meet the criteria are now covered to age
23.†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††

†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† SAVE YOUR LIFE

†††† Since many
people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person with
severe chest pain that radiates out into the arm and up into the jaw, whose
heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10
seconds left before losing consciousness. However, these victims can help
themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath
should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged,
as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough
must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help
arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths
get oxygen in to the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep
the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain
normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

IS IT A STROKE? Sometimes, symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify.
Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may
suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a
stroke. All it may take are three simple questions: Ask the individual to SMILE;
ask the person to RAISEBOTH ARMS; ask the person to SPEAK A
SIMPLE SENTENCE.

†††† If (s)he has trouble with any of these tasks, call 911
immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. Prompt diagnosis and
treatment of the stroke may prevent brain damage.

†††† Itís probably a
good idea to actually practice these procedures so that if they have to be
used, it wonít be your first time.

†††††††††††††††††††††††††
ROUNDUP at the BREAK!

†††††††††††††††††††††††††††
SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS

†††† Teacher unit
members who prefer a particular substitute teacher should present the
substitutes name to their Principal. The Principal will forward the name to
Assistant superintendent for personnel, Joe Previll. He, in turn, will advance
the request to the Sub Service. In some cases, the same sub may be the top
request of several teachers and will have the choice of assignments. Teacher
unit members should not advance any requests directly to the Sub Service.

††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† STUDENT TEACHERS

†††† Arrangements
for student teachers must go through the Assistant Superintendent for Personnel,
Joe Previll. The district has working arrangements with several colleges,
including New Paltz, St. Rose, Marist, Mt. St. Maryís, and, soon, Bard and all
assignments need to be approved. Additionally, in these times of heightened
awareness, there exists a need to know who is in the buildings.

††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† STATE ED

†††† The State
Education department will be doing a review of elementary level Special
Education services in the Kingston Schools.

As a part of the review, they will be visiting classrooms
to observe the implementation of Individual Education Plans. The visitations
are child oriented and are to observe the programs for these students.

†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† LOCAL 1141

†††† NYSUTíS SUPPORT
STAFF, THE 160 MEMBERS OF THE communication Workersí of America (CWA), Local
1141, the secretaries and receptionists for all NYSUT offices, are negotiating
a new contract with NYSUT. The present contract expires on December 31, 2004.

††† Members are
asking for support from NYSUT locals. Please email NYSUT President Tom Hobart
and Executive Director Pauline Kinsella

(first letter and last
name@nysutmail.org) and urge them to follow their union beliefs and to bargain
a fair settlement with CWA Local 1141.

†††††††† †††††††††††††††TAX DEFERRED
ANNUITIES†††††††††††††

†††† Teachers,
especially new teachers, should become aware of TSAís† (TDAís), 403B plans that allow you to
save for retirement using pretax dollars. The maximum allowable contributions
for 2005 are $14,000 plus an additional $4,000 if age 50 or older. If you
havenít yet started and you have at least 15 years of service with the Kingston schools, you may
also be eligible to contribute an additional $3,000 to your plan under the
catch-up provision.

†††† There are 26
agencies that have contracts with the Kingston Schools. Talk to your colleagues
about the providers. The NYSUT endorsed plan is from ING.

†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† BLOOD DRIVE

†††† The KTF Blood Drive on
November 17 was a HUGE success! 80 pints of blood were donated at the J.W.BaileySchool
and represent the largest KTF donation day to date. All participants received
75 Key To Fun points toward the cruise in May.

†††† KTF retiree
leader Don Sweeney made a quick trip to St. Peterís Hospital in Albany last week to have
emergency angioplasty performed on two heart arteries. All went well and he was
back home within two days. No shoveling snow and no
lifting, as in groceries, were the main doctorís orders.